The Acute Box cis-Element in Human Heavy Ferritin mRNA 5′-Untranslated Region Is a Unique Translation Enhancer That Binds Poly(C)-binding Proteins

Abstract Intracellular levels of the light (L) and heavy (H) ferritin subunits are regulated by iron at the level of message translation via a modulated interaction between the iron regulatory proteins (IRP1 and IRP2) and a 5′-untranslated region. Iron-responsive element (IRE). Here we show that iron and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) act synergistically to increase H- and L-ferritin expression in hepatoma cells. A GC-rich cis-element, the acute box (AB), located downstream of the IRE in the H-ferritin mRNA 5′-untranslated region, conferred a substantial increase in basal and IL-1β-stimulated translation over a similar time course to the induction of endogenous ferritin. A scrambled version of the AB was unresponsive to IL-1. Targeted mutation of the AB altered translation; reverse orientation and a deletion of the AB abolished the wild-type stem-loop structure and abrogated translational enhancement, whereas a conservative structural mutant had little effect. Labeled AB transcripts formed specific complexes with hepatoma cell extracts that contained the poly(C)-binding proteins, iso-αCP1 and -αCP2, which have well defined roles as translation regulators. Iron influx increased the association of αCP1 with ferritin mRNA and decreased the αCP2-ferritin mRNA interaction, whereas IL-1β reduced the association of αCP1 and αCP2 with H-ferritin mRNA. In summary, the H-ferritin mRNA AB is a key cis-acting translation enhancer that augments H-subunit expression in Hep3B and HepG2 hepatoma cells, in concert with the IRE. The regulated association of H-ferritin mRNA with the poly(C)-binding proteins suggests a novel role for these proteins in ferritin translation and iron homeostasis in human liver.